Quote:
Originally Posted by jpnh
Can you at least have the courtesy of looking at the thread topic and my response?
Thread topic pertains to M cars
My response pertains to M/Sports cars and whether or not an EV satisfies MY needs/desires and whether EV's can compete in price, performance/etc with current CI/ICE sports cars
They cannot.
Whether they WILL be able to compete at some future date is purely speculative
BTW.....that Fiat has to be the butt ugliest car offered for sale currently....uglier than the "Smart" car if thats possible......you've got balls to drive it........looks like there's room for improvement on safety as well
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-au...A0L24W20140122 |
LOL. Sure. Make fun of how ugly my car is. Obviously you can't logically defend your position thus defame my "choice" of vehicles.
I'm not going to lie. I didn't buy the Fiat for its looks. I "bought" it because a bunch of racer friends in Northern California negotiated a group buy on the Fiat for $80/mo on a lease. I figured, based on my driving and commute, I spend about $250-300 a month on gas, so why not lease it and drive it to the ground? I'd save about $150 a month at least.
Well, even with the depressed gas prices I'm still saving about $100 a month, but driving the Fiat gave me a brand new perspective on EVs. It did so much that I ended up leasing an i3 (big mistake. I can't stand the i3).
As for safety...I always contend that the BEST safety equipment in a car, is the nut that drives it. I've spent the last 15+ years honing my skills on various race tracks, enough so that I feel confident that any car I am driving is probably far safer than 99% of the car I share a road with. So frankly any modern car with a non-Takata airbag is pretty safe in my hands.
To the matter at hand. As of today, EVs can't really compete on performance ON TRACK to ICE vehicles. I've said so on an earlier reply, that I've seen/driven a Tesla on California Speedway, and after a 20 minute session it would completely drain the battery and it takes about 3-5 hours before you can attempt another run at it.
However.
While it's running, it will run CIRCLES around most BMW offers. Even the M5. That power delivery is insane. The low center of gravity is insane. Anyone telling you that EVs of today can't compare to ICE in performance? Bull. The Model S has Lotus tuned suspension and for a big, heavy car, it handles the curves as well if not better than most BMW. Heck it will likely give a base Porsche a run for its money in the right hands.
For 20 minutes (roughly 20-25 miles).
So no, eventually the Tesla will run out of charge and even a Camry will pass it on the track. If that's your standard of performance, and it is MY standard, no, as of today, this moment, as we speak, EV and battery technology is not on par with ICE.
But give it 5 years. The rate that battery technology is advancing, there's no way that ICE can continue to innovate at the same rate. In 5 years that same Tesla (or whatever EV) will be faster on track AND last longer than a ICE vehicle, because battery technology is evolving THAT fast. And in 10 years charging infrastructure will have caught up as well. Just look at how quickly charging infrastructures are being built and put in place all around the world in 4.5 years since Model S popularized EVs. 3 years ago I wouldn't dream of taking a Tesla to San Fran from So Cal. Today? I wouldn't bat an eyelash (plenty of supercharger stations along the way).
And while the rest of the rural 'Murica will likely not see the fruit of this particular labor, quite frankly, EVs are not designed for Rural 'Murica consumption anyway. If I lived and worked in the Mid West? I'd go drive my diesel Chevy pickup with my gun rack all day long. No reason whatsoever for me to bother with EVs, and I'm fine with that. As of right now, EVs are pretty much confined to the two coasts and that's just a fact of life.
But the game changer will be, WHEN the commercial truck industry start adapting EVs, and they will, because on that scale the cost savings can not be ignored. I foresee the commercial trucking industry to go driverless and EV within 20 years. When that happens, the entire country will need to be on an effective charging grid, then this entire discussion is moot. You all would go the way of the "manual transmission will never die" crowd like I was 5 years ago and be ashamed to admit you were wrong (5 years ago I was ADAMANT that manuals will never die. At this point, I can't help but concede that manual transmission is on its way to a long, slow, and painful death).